The Challenges of Universal Broadband Connectivity [Mobile Radio]

As the global pandemic appears on the verge of giving the world some respite, it is time to look back and assess some of the key lessons learned from it. Among them, as this column has been extensively reporting in past issues, is the fact that fixed and mobile broadband connectivity has alleviated the dire consequences faced by large swaths of the world population who suddenly found themselves in a strict lockdown. We are on a path that admits no looking back: our economies have become largely dependent not only on businesses having access to online resources, such as the cloud and edge platforms introduced as part of the 5G ecosystem, but also on consumers having fast, reliable connectivity, whether fixed or mobile. In this issue, among other topics, we report on the effort by the United Nations (UN) to target universal connectivity with adequately high quality by 2030, a goal that could, however, be hindered by the rising costs of broadband Internet access and by disparities in coverage and readiness across the world.